PFA Seals Nine Food Points Over Adulteration, Unhygienic Conditions

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Jan, 2020 ) :Food safety teams have carried out a grand operation against adulteration mafia and toxic vegetables cultivated with industrial waste and sewerage water across the province on Monday.

During the operation, PFA sealed nine food points and penalized numerous food business operators with hefty fines besides serving warning notices for improvement to 11 eateries.

PFA Director General Irfan Memon said a godown of pickle was sealed in Sargodha after confiscating 3,300kg substandard pickle.

He said the team sealed Yousaf Food Storage in Sikka Colony for doing business without a food license, storing poor quality pickle and for unhygienic conditions.

The PFA Gujranwala team also raided Umair Smart Shop and sealed it for selling expired food items and loose spices, the presence of cobwebs, an abundance of insects and poor cleanliness arrangements. A team of PFA sealed Ramzan Salt unit due to selling salt without a label and unhygienic conditions.

The raiding team confiscated 1,250kg adulterated spices, 100kg salt, 10kg loose turmeric powder and red chilli powder. In Sialkot, PFA closed down Sardar Begum Hospital's canteen for selling expired food items, failing to produce medical certificates and worst condition of hygiene.

In another raid, PFA watchdog team sealed Shabbir Awan Khoya unit in Mandi Bhauddin over proved contamination of Banaspati ghee, uncovered khoya and for failing to meet hygienic working environment. Apart from that, workers of the unit did not have medical certificates.

In the South Region, the food safety teams sealed three food factories and imposed Rs50,000 cumulative fine owing to violate the provincial food law.

Irfan Memon said PFA shut down Rehan Food Products for preserving oil in non-food graded drums, using untraceable colours and poor cleanliness arrangements. Ghosia Foods has been sealed due to using substandard ingredients, presence of rats and not taking measures to control pests.

An enforcement team of PFA also closed down a factory over the presence of cats in the production area, proved contamination of hazardous chemicals in snacks, failure to produce medical certificates and non-compliance of authority instructions.

A team raided Khana Badosh Tea Stall in Rawalpindi and sealed it over the abundance of insects in the production area, poor cleanliness arrangements and non-compliance of instructions.

On the other hand, the enforcement team has discarded unhealthy cauliflower and spinach crops by ploughing on 96 Kanal land in Millat Park.